The Influence of Fashion on Red Nose Day

With Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day around the corner, we thought it would be appropriate to look back over the years to see the influence fashion has had on the nation’s most prominent charity day.

Starting a decade ago, TK Maxx first collaborated with Comic Relief in 2007. Designing and creating t-shirts exclusively sold in their own stores, TK Maxx generated over £2m for the Comic Relief cause. In a continuation of the collaboration in 2007, in 2009, TK Maxx again teamed up with Comic Relief to create Red Nose Day t-shirts with exclusive designs from well known luxury designer, Stella McCartney, raising a record £3,200,589 from t-shirt sales alone.

After the ongoing partnership between TK Maxx and Comic Relief gained heavy support nation wide, the popular outlet store again teamed up with Comic Relief in 2011, however the t-shirts were designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood and styled by popular models Sienna Miller and Helena Christensen. Miller and Christensen were not the only celebrities lending their support to Comic Relief; Emilia Fox, David Walliams and John Cleese were also photographed in a unique fuse of fashion and iconic humour, wearing everything from red stetsons and gold hot pants to a ‘Fred Flinstone’ faux fur capes.

Having received an incredible response from the 2011 campaign, in 2013, Comic Relief gained a staggering amount of support from celebrities and fashionistas from all over the world. Stella McCartney rejoined the scene, putting together a capsule collection of the reoccurring Red Nose Day t-shirts, again, exclusively sold in TK Maxx outlets. However, in 2013, prestige model David Gandy stole the show. Launching his very own auction on eBay, Gandy raised money for his Blue Steel campaign, a series of fashion events throughout the year to raise money for Comic Relief. Prizes up for grabs included an experience day with Roland Mouret and his team, tickets to Victoria Beckham’s Spring/Summer 2014 show at New York’s Fashion Week and lunch at the Louis Vuitton apartment in London. The support for the charity day didn’t stop there; Alexa Chung, Kiera Knightly, Kate Moss and One Direction were also amongst the many celebrities that wore and modelled McCartney’s outstanding t-shirts.

The most recent Red Nose Day saw the biggest team-up yet! Red Nose Day supporters were able to snap up their own piece of fashion history after five of the world’s top designers helped to create the 2015 Red Nose Day t-shirt range for Comic Relief.Anya Hindmarch, Karl Lagerfeld, Diane Von Furstenberg, Henry Holland and Matthew Williamson partnered with TK Maxx to design the stunning collection consisting of seven t-shirts and a onesie. A whole host of celebrities joined forces with world renowned photographer, Rankin to pledge their support for Comic Relief by wearing one of the t-shirts. The celebrities included Nicole Scherzinger, Debbie Harry, Lily Allen, David Gandy and many more.

For this years event on Friday 24th of March you can get your hands on some real gems. Rankin has taken the front seat in designing the biggest variety of TK Maxx t-shirts yet. Nine animal printed t-shirts with matching PJ sets will be available to buy, exclusively in TK Maxx stores. The shirts have been manufactured in Africa using Fairtrade cotton and at least £5 from women’s and men’s sales and £2.50 from kids will be donated to Comic Relief. Make sure you get yourself some nice PJ’s and get in front of the TV for what is meant to be the biggest production yet!